Sunday, May 27, 2007
There is a doctor named Amy Yasko
Two of my four children have Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism. I'll call them Shannon, age 19, and Mike, age 14. Over the years I tried one of the remedies at the fringe of medicine, and it it didn't help, so I just worked with the kids as best I could. Anyway, the claims for these remedies appeared to be improvements for very autistic kids. Mine were already high-functioning, so I figured the remedies wouldn't take us anywhere.
Just recently I read a Discover Magazine (April 2007) article on autism that favorably mentioned Dr. Amy Yasko, a microbiologist and doctor in Maine who was having quite a lot of success. What struck me was the claim that her patients were actually not autistic any more. This is what I wish for my children more than anything--that they could truly understand what another person is thinking.
So we are embarking on Dr. Amy Yasko's protocol. I decided to keep a record and share it with you. We'll see where we end up!
Here is her approach in a nutshell. The cells in the body use cycles of amino acids that combine and recombine, sort of like the water cycle that we see in the weather. The fruit of the key methylation cycle is production of methyl groups, CH3. These are necessary to keep our DNA healthy.
But certain genetic mutations can mess up the methylation cycle or several cycles that are related to the methylation cycle. These mutations cause the methylation cycle to stop, or nearly stop. The result of that is that the body can no longer cleanse itself of heavy metals and viruses. So these accumulate in the body and cause all kinds of problems which add up to autism.
Dr. Amy doesn't claim to undo the mutations. She seeks to provide a workaround by using supplements, such as SAM-e and lots of others, which try to reverse the specific results of the mutations in question for the individual.
Since Dr. Amy had a six-year waiting list and desired to be as helpful as possible to as many people as possible, she created a do-it-yourself protocol. Parents like me are supposed to get the blood sample taken, read up on all the information, and decide which supplements to give and when based on the information she gives in two books.
In our family, we are going to start with Mike, age 14. We sent his blood in two weeks ago, at a cost of $1100. Now I need to figure out which supplements to order for the "step one" of the protocol. This step offers general support for the methylation cycle, regardless of which mutation might be present.
Just recently I read a Discover Magazine (April 2007) article on autism that favorably mentioned Dr. Amy Yasko, a microbiologist and doctor in Maine who was having quite a lot of success. What struck me was the claim that her patients were actually not autistic any more. This is what I wish for my children more than anything--that they could truly understand what another person is thinking.
So we are embarking on Dr. Amy Yasko's protocol. I decided to keep a record and share it with you. We'll see where we end up!
Here is her approach in a nutshell. The cells in the body use cycles of amino acids that combine and recombine, sort of like the water cycle that we see in the weather. The fruit of the key methylation cycle is production of methyl groups, CH3. These are necessary to keep our DNA healthy.
But certain genetic mutations can mess up the methylation cycle or several cycles that are related to the methylation cycle. These mutations cause the methylation cycle to stop, or nearly stop. The result of that is that the body can no longer cleanse itself of heavy metals and viruses. So these accumulate in the body and cause all kinds of problems which add up to autism.
Dr. Amy doesn't claim to undo the mutations. She seeks to provide a workaround by using supplements, such as SAM-e and lots of others, which try to reverse the specific results of the mutations in question for the individual.
Since Dr. Amy had a six-year waiting list and desired to be as helpful as possible to as many people as possible, she created a do-it-yourself protocol. Parents like me are supposed to get the blood sample taken, read up on all the information, and decide which supplements to give and when based on the information she gives in two books.
In our family, we are going to start with Mike, age 14. We sent his blood in two weeks ago, at a cost of $1100. Now I need to figure out which supplements to order for the "step one" of the protocol. This step offers general support for the methylation cycle, regardless of which mutation might be present.
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This blog describes how we started out on the protocol by Dr. Amy Yasko, who many say has cured or improved children with autism using a genetic-based nutrition therapy.